Quote:
Originally Posted by Dotneko
We installed 175 solar panels on the 200 ft long barn roof on our farm in Massachusetts in 2014 or so. With SRECs included, our entire energy needs were met with money coming in to us. 8 year payback. We were able to convert our oil furnace to electric. Our typical February electric bill (before converting the house) was $2500.00. Granted, we had a large horse farm with 70X200ft indoor riding arena, apartment and heated barn. But solar was a huge saving for us!
If we had 3phase on the street, we would have done more and sold back to the grid.
This was with the panels covered by snow about 3 months a year. I dont understand why there wasnt a trickle charge melting the snow to allow continuous daily production.
There were only a certain number of net metering setups allowed yearly.
Hail didnt happen often in MA, but I still dont know why we dont have more panels here in FL.
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Rooftop panels do not make economic sense in Florida. Typically, the payback period is close to 20 years, and when you reroof, you need to pay thousands of dollars to have the panels removed and reinstalled. They can also cause your roof to develop leaks. The companies that sell these systems lie to customers by presenting a payback calculation that totally ignores the time value of money, which at today's interest rates, doubles the payback period. They also offer a 25-year parts and labor warranty, which no small company could ever be able to fulfill. Another lie is that solar panels will increase the value of your house. It won't. Why should homeowners install solar panels on their roof, when the power company could do the same thing at their power plant with fewer problems?